The Chilehead Guide to Holiday Gifts

Around the holiday times, we here at First We Feast like to trumpet a familiar maxim: If you give someone the gift of food and drink, there's a good chance some of it will end up back in your mouth. That advice may get you in trouble this year, as we've set out to construct a gift guide for chileheads—thrill-seekers who take distinct pleasure from the tongue-searing pain of spicy foods.

Once a sub-culture, hot-sauce popularity has skyrocketed over the past decade, breeding fanatics who geek out about the latest bottle of explosively spicy peppers, or are just as eager to learn how to recover from an ill-advised dab of Carolina Reaper sauce. As technical words like Scovilles and capsaicin enter the common vernacular, and more and more celebrities submit themselves to the ring of fire known as Hot Ones, we figured it was the right time to spread the love of chile peppers.

From collaborative porters brewed with aji panca peppers, to a Hot Ones starter pack endorsed by our very own Sean Evans, here are gifts with the chilehead in mind.

Heatonist One to Ten Pack

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $150

When Hot Ones host Sean Evans began scouting new product for next season, he turned to trusted hot-sauce evangelist Noah Chaimberg of Heatonist for some pointers. To meet the challenge, Chaimberg curated a list of new bottles that span the heat spectrum, from mild rum and scotch bonnet pepper blends, to explosive Carolina Reaper formulas. To simulate your own Hot Ones at home, we recommend this starter kit, which comes with 10 bottles, plus a free Hot Ones hot sauce bottle upon purchase. Buy it here.

BAIT x Sriracha Baseball Jersey

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $59.99

For many Sriracha loyalists, owner David Tran's signature sauce isn't just a reliable condiment—it's a remarkable success story of a humble product evolving into a pop-culture icon. The fanaticism inspired by Sriracha is captured perfectly by West Coast retail outlet BAIT, whose knack for creative collaborations helped birth this handsome Sriracha baseball jersey. Like the sauce, the jersey wins by paying attention to details. The rooster you see on the sleeve represents Tran's zodiac sign, which embodies accuracy and precision. Buy it here.

Benny T's Vesta Dry Hot Sauce

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $15 (Ghost), $20 (Reaper)

If you're looking for the next big thing in the world of heat-seeking, look no further than "dry" hot sauce. These chile-packed powders are ideal for keeping at your desk at work and breaking out whenever you need to crank up a sad desk lunch, or just take a bump to wake yourself up. Benny T's Vesta is a trailblazer in the category, and offers varieties loaded with some of the hottest peppers in the world, including ghost and Carolina Reaper. Buy it here.

Two Roads x Evil Twin Pachamama Porter

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $3-6

Chile-infused brews have traditionally been guilty of indulging craft beer's worst impulses, privileging gimmicky shock value over fine-tuned balance. But more recently a number of brewers across the country have begun to dial in their Scoville-inspired suds, producing intriguing ales like Ballast Point's Habanero Sculpin and Burnside Brewing Co.'s Sweet Heat. The latest contender for the chile crown is this collaboration from cult Danish brewer Evil Twin and Connecticut's Two Roads, which uses sweet potatoes and purple mais to create a Peruvian-themed backbone for aji panca chili peppers. Buy it here.

El Yucateco Basketball Shorts

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $29.95

While Tapatio and Cholula typically hog most of the table space nowadays, real hot-sauce fans know El Yucateco's habanero-packed bottles are a step above the rest. Even though El Yucateco's flavors are bold, its swag is understated. That's a good thing, as these black mesh basketball shorts have nothing more than a simple patch to demonstrate your ability to get saucy all over the competition. When your product is already fire, there's no reason to overcompensate. Buy it here.

Heatonist Rings of Fire Poster

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $250

If you're going to call yourself a spicy-pepper expert, you'll need to understand them on a genetic level. Visualizing 100 of the world's hottest chile peppers, this limited-edition, movie-poster size art print was developed in a collaboration between Signal Noise, a top data design agency based in London, and Heatonist, a specialty hot-sauce purveyor based in Brooklyn. The collector's item depicts the heat levels of the world's most famous peppers, drawing relationships between different species through color coding and arcing lines. Only 10 of these limited-edition archival grade prints are available. 100% of the proceeds will support The Youth Farm in their mission to educate young New Yorkers on the food system and sustainable agriculture. Buy it here.

Hot Ones Hot Sauces T-shirt

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $28

Hot Ones fans know the drill—first round Sriracha, second round Tapatío, third round El Yucateco. By the time you reach Pain 100%, there's no-turning back. MadDog 357 is the nail in the coffin. To celebrate the hot sauces that fuel the laughs, tears, and misery on the show, cop a t-shirt and proudly boast your chilehead credentials. Buy it here.

Raaka Ghost Pepper Chocolate Bar

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $7.95

After the Mast Bros. scandal, we don't blame your for eyeing artisanal chocolate with a skeptical eye. But trust us—Raaka is the real deal. The Brooklyn-based chocolatiers grind, mill, and temper cacao beans, preserving their unique terroir and amplifying flavor. Despite its purist sensibilities, Raaka is not risk-averse by any means—this ghost-pepper chocolate bar shows the brilliance of bitterness tempered by a faint capsaicin burn in the back of your throat. Buy it here.

Bee Local Hot Honey

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $14

Sweet and spicy is one of the world's great flavor combos, and this Moruga Scorpion pepper-infused honey is a great way to add kick to everything from cocktails to ice cream. The honey itself is top-shelf—single-origin, sustainably-produced—and its way more versatile than you'd think. Transform carryout wings or basic cheese pizza into a gourmet meal with just a little drizzle. Buy it here.

SRIRACHA2GO Sriracha-Lover's Package

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $35

Never underestimate the spell Sriracha holds over its devotees. The people over at SRIRACHA2GO certainly didn't, which is why they partnered with Huy Fong Foods to create travel-size keychain containers. The ultimate expression of Sriracha fandom comes in the form of their Lover's Package, which boasts two key chains, a bottle of Sriracha, a red-and-green coffee mug, and 50 sachets to stuff in your glove compartment or desk drawer. Buy it here.

HOT Hat

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $35

You don't need to be a Hot Ones fan, or even know what Hot Ones is, to wear this snapback—you just need to be interested in proclaiming your hotness to the streets at all times. Buy the red version for anyone who's favorite episode is YG, or go with black for a slightly more understated look. Buy it here.

The arms race to engineer hot sauces that will break the scoville barometer is the type of drama chileheads live for. Two of the hottest ones available on the market—Cajohn's Black Mamba Six and Heavenly Heat Meet Your Maker Retribution Sauce—use extracts to amplify their potency while still retaining flavor. Their names sound like lethal threats, and you'd be wise to handle any sauces that hover around the five- and six-million scoville mark with the utmost care. Buy them here and here.

Hot Ones Hot Sauce

Image via David Cabrera

Price: $12

Co-signed by luminaries such as Rachael Ray and Action Bronson, Hot Ones Fiery Chipotle is, simply put, the greatest hot sauce in the world (we're not biased at all). Our challenge to our collaborators Heatonist and Homeboys Hot Sauce was simple: Create the perfect “turning point” sauce for the show—something with enough kick to get the blood flowing, and an incredible flavor that would make it versatile enough to replace Sriracha and Tabasco on your kitchen counter. The addictive result balances chipotle-fueled smokiness with serious heat from habaneros and ghost peppers, plus a hint of sweetness from pineapple and lime. Buy it here.

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